Moroccan Stew - Under 4$ A Serving

I love cooking, eating well and designing my own recipes. Students notoriously eat cheap foods and suffer from terrible diets. I think many students believe that eating well comes at a high price and inconvenience. I'm a student and I've done the math, it's cheaper to eat home cooked meals and spend the extra time to prepare them. One foot-long sub from subway costs about 6.00$ with taxes but only lasts one meal, where a well designed home-cooked meal, can cost under 5.00$ a serving and last up to 5 meals. Home cooked meals don't have to be completely from scratch either, there are hundreds of pre-made cooking sauces and spice packs on the market, perfect for all types of cooks. I like to experiment, but many companies give example recipes on packages and on websites. Here is a recipe I invented this week:

The Student-Modified Berber (Moroccan) Stew

PC Memories of Morocco Cooking Sauce (Equal Parts Water)

Unico Red Lentils (about 300grams)

Carnation Soy Cream or Bel Soy Cream

PC Soft-Unripened Goats Cheese

2 Large Organic Bell Peppers

2 Large Organic Carrots

2-3 Large Organic French Shallots

1 Large Organic Zucchini

1 1/2 Cup de-tailed Precooked Shrimp (Tofu or Chicken)

1/4 Cup Flour (for desired thickness)

Instructions: Chop/Dice/Slice Veggies into desired sizes (I like mine chunky) and toss them in your large soup pot or crock-pot. Quarter or dice the shallots. Drain the lentils and pour them on your veggies. Pour the Cooking sauce on the veggies, and fill the sauce bottle with water and shake, pour that on too. Give it a stir and set on high. Add soy cream and flour once the stew is simmering, add slowly and test consistency. 30 mins before serving add shrimp (Tofu or Chicken) and Goat Cheese* to taste.

Total: 18.22$

Per Serving: 3.65$

Serve on Brown Rice or Couscous with a side of Harcha* or Naan. Serves 4-5 people or lunch or light dinner. I made mine in a small/medium crock-pot over 3-4 hours. It keeps really well and freezes amazingly. Reheat in a sauce-pan on low, as not to overcook the shrimp.

* Goat Cheese compliments these flavours perfectly, respectively deriving from the the traditional Berber culture in rural Morocco, who have been making goat cheese for centuries.

* Harcha is a traditional Moroccan Bread, similar to Naan.